SS Antithesis
by Masolin
Summary: <html><head></head>Hermione has literally been through the wringer. After losing Ron in the final battle and being left horribly wounded, she can only find solace in the comfort of her friends. One blonde blue-eyed wonder in particular helps her find her way back home. Femslash Hermione/Luna May get a little M rated in later chapters.</html>
1. Chapter 1

When I woke on the floor of the Great hall, gashes all over my body were the least of my worries. The soft hand checking my wounds went ignored by me. As soon as I was conscious, I remembered that he was gone. I remembered the great walls of fire, the three would-be death eaters closing in, his call for our escape, Harry on a broom, and then he was gone; forever. And now I could _hear_ as Molly Weasley wailed at the loss of two of her precious sons. I was sick with pain and guilt in my soul, and that soft hand was annoying me. I tried to swat it away, but in turn it just pinched me, hard. That's when I finally had the sense to look up and see those soft, brilliant, opulent blue eyes, full of compassion, and rage, and a desire to just see me well.

"You need to be calm, and you need to be still." She whispered to me and I complied. Who knew that Luna Lovegood could be so daunting, especially now. I felt her hands travel over my body and I winced as it passed over my torso.

She dropped down beside me and made very direct eye contact with me, trying to somehow stopper the hysteria that must have been dominating my slight form. The dreamy look in her eyes was gone, a sad stupor replacing it, but also a determination I had never seen in Loony Lovegood before.

"Hermione," Her voice was very calm and chaste, still floating dreamily on that far away melody the girl was always chasing. "I'm going to need you to please remove your shirt."

"W-what?" I inquired, still dazed and in a state of sorrowful shock.

"You seem to have a few burns on your torso." She said matter-of-factly, that dreamy melody pervading the air.

I glanced down to see the wide holes in my shirt and the severely singed and slightly charred skin beneath it, which sent me into another dizzying panic. She lifted my chin so our eyes connected again. She was smiling sympathetically at me.

"Breathe." She said airily, and I did as I was bade. "We need to get that treated. If you'll follow me over there, there are some curtained off areas we can go to."

I nodded numbly as she pulled me to my feet. I winced in pain, almost toppling over, before she came to my side and became my crutch.

"R-ron, oh god…" I breathed in between sobs as we hobbled over to a nice quiet stall in the middle of this madness. "H-he…He.."

"Shhh." She breathed in my ear. "It's not all right, I know, but we need to tend to you right now. We will mourn him later."

I stifled my tears as she sat me down on a worn pallet and drew the curtain before asking me to remove my shirt again. I tried and failed to lift my arms anywhere near above my head, sobbing quietly at my inability. She hushed me sweetly, presenting a pair of scissors. It served to only agitate me more.

"It's okay." She was being so calm through all this while I was falling apart. Did all of this even have any effect on her? But I let her do as was needed to get the cloth off of me. I looked down to see the degree of my injuries, and they were fairly extensive, which only added to my panic. There was a long, wide burn, starting from the right side of my ribcage and spread down to my hip, I finally could feel the pain of it and knew it spread to my back. I cried as Luna removed a small bottle of a swirling orange potion from a kit of them that sat on a make-shift desk.

"It's going to scar, but not too bad." She made a small cough, and I saw some hue flush into her pristinely pale cheeks. "I'm going to need to remove the bra as well."

I nodded dully, looking down and counting the other, much smaller burns that were scattered across my stomach. I could feel more underneath other garments as well.

"To be fair Luna," I grumbled, holding my arms away from my body as she made the snips and removed the bra. "You're going to have to remove the pants as well."

She did as such and soon I stood in just my underwear, staring far away from this dreaded corner of the world as I felt her spread the swirling, slimy potion onto my skin. I felt it flutter and tickle as it did it's magic upon my damaged flesh. I looked down in muted amazement as it sealed the open wounds, leaving just angry red scars in its wake. I looked back up at Luna, her eyes trained on her work, but still held that sorrowful stupor within them. When we were through, I was wrapped in gauze, my pants pulled back up, and her staring at me with those wide blue eyes. I couldn't help myself as I pulled her into a very tight hold despite the pain that scorched up my side.

"He's gone Luna." I sniffled in her ear.

She held me close, her bouncy blonde curls tickling my nose and her soft hands rubbing my back.

"I know." She whispered against my skin.

"Oh my god," My eyes sprung open. "Harry!"

"He's okay." She interrupted my panic calmly but abruptly. "He's with the Weasley's. Would you like to go see them now?"

I pulled away slowly and looked at the floor, though I could feel her curious eyes watching me rather intently.

"No." I whispered.

She nodded her understanding, but I felt her fingers raising my chin so I would look at her.

"I know it's hard, but they would want to see you." She told me calmly. "You should join them. You're their family."

"No I'm not. I wasn't…" I grumbled. It wasn't well known, but my relationship with Ron was, to be frank, a shattered mess since he had left. We were never going to be the same, and it hurt even more that he had died for a woman who could never love him that way again. The way such a wonderful, brave, honest man should be loved.

I felt her palms against my shoulder as she lowered her head to look at me, and for the first time I could see those tears that had refused to fall for the longest time.

"We are _all_ family." She whispered to me shakily, and took me into her deceptively strong arms and I fell apart for her, and she scooped me up and put me back together again. "We all love each other, and that will never change Hermione. And family should be who you love more than anything." I nodded into her hair and sobbed some nonsensical words that only she could have made sense of, because just as I had wanted, she led me to the Weasleys and to Harry, and I fell apart for them as well, and we mourned for the boys who had died for the people who they loved and were loved by.


	2. Chapter 2

**6 Weeks Later**

I woke with a shuddering breath as I heard the screams of the fire alarm from the kitchen echo on the walls of our cramped flat and was actually relieved to be awake. The night terrors were simply awful to say the least, and they left me sweaty and my hair all matted down. I rose to my feet begrudgingly, as the wounds that wound their way down the right side of my torso and my arse were still stiff and angry, making movement of any sort a chore to say the least. I hobbled weakly out of my room to see three things: Harry swatting at a grease fire that had erupted from the stove with what was once a plastic spatula, Ginny laughing hysterically, holding her wand aloft but unable to cast in her state, and Luna hanging upside down on the couch of all things, reading The Quibbler, her toes dancing in the air. I chuckled to myself before taking it upon myself to extinguish the flames and swat Harry half-heartedly on the back of the head, before joining Luna on the sofa.

We had all moved into this tiny flat sanctioned to us by the Ministry only days after the final battle, and only now did it begin to feel like home. Somehow though, I feel that it will always be one person short. But things were going great. I was studying again, as was Luna, though her research was less than tasteful, always reading up on whatever nonsense creature that struck her fancy. Harry and Ginny had quickly eloped and she was finishing up training with the Holly Head Harpies while Harry was lazily making his way into becoming, of all things, the next Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts. To say the least we were moving on, or trying to anyway.

"Well, I'm off." Ginny bellowed, downing the last of her pumpkin juice before polishing of her toast and putting the plate in the sink before kissing Harry lovingly on the cheek. "Be back tonight, love." She muttered to him before taking off out the door.

Harry, wearing a very ostentatious pink apron, watched her go before setting about doing the dishes. Once he was finished he quickly donned his jacket before taking off out the door to catch up with Mr. Weasley about a Quidditch game he had missed.

Luna sighed dreamily before tossing this week's issue of The Quibbler onto the coffee table and looking over at me curiously.

"The Nargles seem to have stolen my toothbrush." She said with a slight pout.

I giggled at her before producing from my sleeve a spirally purple toothbrush, which she took with a lazy smile and a wink in my direction. She really did enjoy making people blush it seemed. She pinched my thigh and rolled her way back into a _normal_ sitting position as I chuckled at her dazedly inspecting the toothbrush.

"What are you doing today Hermione?" She asked airily before looking up at me with those daunting blue eyes. I'd always really liked her eyes.

"Well, studying of course. I have three new chapters of _Wizarding Remedies for the Incurably Anxious: A Guide to Aiding Mental Anomalies _to finish before lunch. Then I want to read up on _Traditions of the Tahitian Transfigurers_ before I do the laundry, then—" She pressed her fingers to my lips, her eyes hooded as always as a sweet smile crossed her face.

"I was wondering if you wouldn't mind going on a stroll through the park with me?" She asked sweetly.

I nodded mutely as she hauled me up and pressed me onward to the door.

"Wait, I need to get dressed first!" I exclaimed exasperatedly, rushing into my room before hurriedly donning the first articles I could find and rushing back out of the room once more to be hustled out of the apartment.

When we found ourselves in a Muggle park in the middle of London, I was a bit surprised. I thought, being this was the girl who looked for Wrackspurts and other such nonsense beasts, we would end up in some place more…fanciful. But, as we strolled on the walkways, chatting, I felt rather calm with her presence. I had never, in the years that we had known each other, realized how calming Luna's presence was. Her soft voice that floated breezily on the wind was a lullaby to all around. I felt her finger tips dance against the back of my hand and my heart would flutter. I would look over and her gaze would just be tripping about the people and the trees, unaware of what was going on.

Then I saw it. A mop of red hair, a flash out in the distance, and everything sank. Every time I was out, I would see a flash of his smile, his hair, a freckle misplaced, and I would be filled with so much _guilt._ I followed the bobbing head with my eyes. I knew it wasn't him, but I really couldn't help myself, I wanted it to be so badly. I looked around myself at the trees and the fresh air and the sunshine and laughter, and I felt like I had stolen something away from him; a life that he could have had.

Without fail, it always happened, and I couldn't breathe right after that. My head would pound with pressure, I would pant against my will and I felt like I was falling. Before that happened I recognized as Luna's slight frame supported mine, dragging me gently into a small clearing away from everyone else and settled me down in a sitting position, herself positioned behind me. She crossed my arms over my chest and held me tightly, applying generous pressure to my already shaking form.

"Breathe in for five seconds," She whispered in my ear. "Out for eight, okay?"

I nodded and did as I was bade, her counting out the seconds with me. When my breath had finally normalized, she still held onto me fiercely, and I was grateful for it. Without it I suspect I would have completely fallen apart again. We sat in the clearing, her wrapped around me, for a long spell. I cried for a bit, and when I was done, she finally let me go.

"I'm sorry." I grumbled, dabbing my eyes with my sleeve. She offered me a bright green handkerchief and I took it gratefully, wiping my eyes and my nose.

"Oh, don't even worry about that." She responded airily, as if it hadn't even crossed her mind that I was a complete degenerate mess in front of her. "You're hurting, I understand. I suspect Waggling Natterers to be a part of it."

"Er…sure." I responded numbly to the odd statement. "C-can we go home now. I don't really feel like walking much today."

"Of course." She responded, helping me to my feet and dusting me off before accompanying me in a brisk walk back to the flat.

When we returned, I curled myself into a ball on the couch, preferring it to the dark loneliness of my room. I felt as Luna sat on the other end, her feet dangling and dancing off the edge, her presence doing little to ease my mind, probably making it even worse. She looked over at me and sighed. I curled further into myself.

"It's not your fault." She spoke out into the silence. "That he's gone."

"W-what?" I asked, aghast.

"People died." She responded airily, staring up at the ceiling with her large blue eyes. "Good people, and bad people too. People will always die. It isn't our fault that they die, but our responsibility to keep on living."

I stared at her in silence, her still inspecting the patterns lost to me on the ceiling.

"You hurt now, but it probably won't always be that way. It shouldn't be that way. It's not what he would want, what any of them would want." There was a certain broken look in her eye, and I feel that she was talking as much to herself as me, and not just about the war.

I fell to my side and rested my head in her lap, sobbing openly, using her pants to wipe my tears. I felt her fingers dance over my scalp soothingly. No more words were said. I just cried, she just held me, and when I was done I put all of those evil, disgruntling thoughts in a little box and left them there for now. We studied some more as the sun went down across the way. It would be a hard night to night. I wouldn't be able to avoid the nightmares this time, but at least I'd be able to wake up to some comfort, with my family around me.


End file.
